New scape and tough battles.

A

Anthonius

New member
So I made some changes to my rockwork to open up the sand bed a bit for future coral placement. I should be getting my first few frags next month. I wanted to give myself ample time to get paramters to where I want them and I want this hair algae gone as soon as posisble. The algae is pretty bad in some places and really needs to be removed. Im not sure if you can notice but the rock is held together with apoxy so I cannot quite remove the rock and take the algae off manually. Does anyone have any ideas? I run a NAC 7 skimmer, Ammo, Nitrite, Phosphates are all undetectable. Nitrates are less than 5ppm. I have snails but nothing seems to touch the hair algae unless it just happens to be in its path towards the diatoms. I am thinking of running some GFO or some NP Pellets in a fluidized reactor. If I can avoid getting into the NP pellets and the extra equipment can we think of a couple hair algae eating critters?

Anyways I thought I would share this video of future reef tank. Right now all that I have in there is two Ocellaris clowns that are loving it.

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I've heard that Urchins are pretty good hair algae eaters. Is the tank new and just finished cycling? If so maybe you might just wanna wait it out as algae blooms are a part of the natural cycling process.
 
I dont want to say its new but I dont wanna call it mature... its definately cycled and has been for about 2 months now... it just hasnt went away after the bloom. Are there any reef safe urchins because I would gladly order a few.
 
I like the scape! I don't know much about urchins, but blennies can help with some of the algae issues. Tangs as well.
 
thats good news because i was thinking my next fish will be a midas blenny... they are so long and slender and eel like i just have to have one... plus its a different enough body to allow another blenny down the road if i choose one. my only concerns is i may need to make a mesh top or something as these guys are known for jumping ship.

does anyone have background with np pellets, gfo, or those warner marine medias for phosphate and nitrate removal? if so i would love to hear about the effects on your tank specifically especially if you run something similar to a 75gallon display with a 20g long sump.
 
My Astraea snails DEMOLISH GHA - I was overrun with it by last Thursday, picked up 7 of these guys and by today it is nearly all gone. Granted, it is only a 29 gallon tank but you get the idea.
 
thats good to here man, maybe ill get a few astreas when i pick up a couple more turbos... i am really leaning towards the np pellets after looking at a few threads.
 
Ya, I'm pretty convinced with bio-pellets after reading all the threads. BRS recently began selling them as well, and they have useful info on how to use them on their site.
 
yah i did some reading on NP pellets and I think thats the route I am going to take. come payday I will be looking into a few reactors and possibly some of the media... I think I am going to run carbon as well. I just want to see that I can get rid of this stuff before I start gluing frags to that rock... its pretty much all growing on that one rock.. its sparingly growing everywhere but the entire top of the shelf rock on the top right has abut 1.5" of hair algae growth... looking up really close the dwarf ceriths are all over that rock so they must be consuming a little bit of it... looks like 15-20 dwarf ceriths on the thing but they dont make the slightest dent on the algae bloom. they do a pretty nice job with the glass but not very effective on hair algae... they sure do mow down some cyano though.
 
Just looked at your video again, and was wondering what your lighting schedule is? The algae is concentrated on the rocks towards the top, so I'm presuming the light is fueling their growth. You can always run the light for less hours. Also, are you using stock bulbs?
 
lighting runs from about 4pm to 1am thats including 30 mins of actinic only on the top and bottom of the photoperiod. the light is a gutted out fixture with a retrofit kit 6 bulbs 4- Ati Blue +'s, 1 kz fiji purple, 1 ge daylight bulb, and a ati aquablue special.
 
Hmm, your photoperiod probably isn't the main culprit. Of course you can always try turning off the lights for a few days. Also, did you get your rocks from Marco? I've been reading in one of the RC forums that their rocks contain some phosphate and should be given an acid/vinegar bath.
 
I would stay away from urchins if you like coraline. (not all people do)
Urchins will strip your rocks bare. They eat coraline was well as nuisance algae.
 
i didnt order any urchins yet and was doing some reading about that exact thing... i think i will get the np pellets first and see how that works... if that cant handle it then a handful of chaeto will go in the sump...

to aleonn- this information is true both about the marco rocks as well as the brs eco rox... my rocks sat in a vinegar bath and then after that it got rinsed and took a 1 month long soak in fresh water... and then!!! another month in saltwater... they should be ok being as most people dont go to the extent i did... either way there are probably still some bound up phosphates but i imagine low enough.
 
aleonn said:
Hmm, your photoperiod probably isn't the main culprit. Of course you can always try turning off the lights for a few days. Also, did you get your rocks from Marco? I've been reading in one of the RC forums that their rocks contain some phosphate and should be given an acid/vinegar bath.
Click to expand...

Interesting statement about the rock. I bought about 60lbs of "reef saver" rock from BRS which I believe is the marco rock. I just threw the rock in my tank and I have HA also. My PO3 reading is 0 but I suspect all the HA is eating it up.

I'm curious on how much phosphate this will possibly leach. Should I take these rocks out and soak them in vinegar? I do plan on getting some phosban this weekend, maybe this will be enough to deal with this issue?
 
Hmmm I'm not sure what I'd do in your situation, sorry. Doing vinegar soaks now will kill the live rock and set you back in terms of cycling, but it may be worth it if that is indeed the cause. Bump so someone else can chime in.
 
If I was in your shoes I would turn of all pumps, take a toothbrush and scrub your heart out for about 30 minutes. Try to get as much as you can off the rocks and suspended in the water, I know this wil be difficult with your rock epoxied. After scrubbing take a turkey baster and make sure that what settles does not settle on or under your rocks.
When everthing has settled do a water change and remove as much as possible. Repeat as needed.
If you have a reactor fill it with Seachem's REEF GEL. (and I do mean FILL it, do not leave room for tumbling)
It is Matrix carbon and Phosgaurd mixed together and has a spherical shape that allows good flow through your reactor. This will remove organics, phosphate and silicates.
I have seen this method turn a lot of algae farms into reef tanks again.
 
yeah its part of an original cycle bloom from a month or two back when the cycle finished. jsut hasnt went away. its not absolutely horrible but i believe i can solve this issue. I think i will shut the pumps off and scrub away see what I can get out. then I will do the water change like you said to pull most of the stuff out. I think I am going to order a nice reactor today to run some NP pellets to remove trates and phates. i cleaned the skimmer today... i forgot to take a picture of some of the nasty skimmate... boy did it stink.
 
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